Thursday, January 21, 2010

It's like fruit flies, really...

Making all those Figgy Pudding minis - it was like breeding fruit flies to study, doing so many little projects quickly showed me a few things.


Most of them had to do with finishing off and binding. Crazy Mom Quilts has an awesome tutorial that I used, and Julie just did another recently.


Julie's mention of marking your 1/4" in the corners helps keep corners nice and even. And the way Amanda Jean explained how to join your binding ends was so helpful! I don't know what my problem was, but it never worked out for me until I started doing that measure-over-1/2" thing. Now my joins lay perfectly every time.


My own tip to add in, which is probably impractical on a large quilt but perfect for a mini, was marking the squared outer edge onto the quilted top. I lined the binding edge up to that mark and sewed. No wonky shapes on these!


Then I just used pinking shears to clip along the edge - careful not to get that fold! This eliminated one of my most hated things, the little unravely strings that fly all about while you hand stitch the back.

Go visit Julie or Amanda Jean for all their awesome step-by-step pictures if you want some more binding tips.
And now just one more picture that I took before the tea, of all my little {children} quilts in one place.

22 comments:

Allie said...

That is so fun to see all your little quilts together. They are all so beautiful!

Leslie said...

i love them...look at how happy they are all together. :o) thanks for the tips...speaking of, i am working on dome blocks that are not quite turning out the same size. i know it will eliminate a lot of hassle to square them first before assembling...so you have any tips for me. i am afraid of messing them up

jess said...

Your wall is beautiful and tempting!

Diane said...

Thanks for the tips. I want to improve my binding and will go review these for info! Love seeing your minis again!

Stephanie said...

They look great! I love the circle one. So pretty all grouped together.

leigh said...

They are all so fun and different. What a great way to try out some new techiques!

And thanks for the tips. I'm great at everything but joining the ends. So I'll go check out Amanda Jean's tutorial.

Also - great tip from you. I think I'm going to do some placemats and that will be important for those.

Julie @ Jaybird Quilts said...

thanks for the link love!! i'm glad my tips helped.. i have a few more to add.. i hope to update the tutorial next week or so!

Rene' said...

It's great seeing all your minis again. I miss them. Thanks for the binding tips. I could have used those yesterday!! Still having trouble with the corners. Thanks for sharing.

Life of Joy said...

Have you ever dealt with fruit flies? I have very intimately for a year. I imagine the quilts were much less messy. And at least they do not fly away. Although you gave them away and they are much prettier.

Stefanie said...

Hey Angela!

Thanks for sharing the great tips and all of the eye candy (aka-you mini quilts)! They are each beautiful alone but together they are stunning.

Have a good Friday!

Anonymous said...

I learn so much from all the quilters who blog!! Thank you for sharing these tips on binding! Loved seeing all your mini quilts again!

Lara said...

They are all so gorgeous! I think you intensified my figgy pudding obsession with these minis!

Dee said...

The "family" album is amazing! Sew much time, energy, love and hope going into these babies. I'm still impressed and awed and humbled by everything you did for the ladies at your table!

Awesome.

shellysquilts said...

These are really cute! Well done!

Kerry said...

Wow - those are beautiful! I have some figgy pudding laying around, and you just inspired me! Thanks for the link to the binding tutorial - it never hurts to get a little extra help in that area. :)

Unknown said...

Just gorgeous, and so rewarding making mini's. None of those hours and hours hunched over a machine.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with the earlier poster: probably you don't want the fruit flies (or the maggot stage! I'm a geneticist). But I did want to comment on your mini-quilts; the designs are lovely and I enjoyed watching your progress on them. I've never been a Moda fan, but I'm going to look out for some figgy pudding.

Thanks!

CitricSugar said...

THanks for the squaring tip! I'll have to try that one out!

Marianne Penner said...

Great to see all you beautiful little minis all together. You are so inspiring. Thanks again for sharing.

Tamara Lund D.C. said...

I love to see the collection hanging. I hear inspiration creeping in.

Dresden Quilter said...

They are all so beautiful. I don't think I could pick out a favourite. I can't believe you could give them away!

Rebekah said...

lovely mini quilts! I love the fabric line you used for these